African American Shootings

In 2014, Ryan Gabrielson, Ryann Grochowski Jones and Eric Sagara performed a study called Deadly force in black and white and researched data that noted in the time frame of 2010-2012 1,217 killings that left civilians dead at the hands of law enforcement. The federal data showed that African America males ranging from the ages 15-19 were killed at a 31.17% per million rates as opposed to White Americans were only killed at a 1.47% per million person’s rate. For that statistic to equal out for a White American, 185 more White American teens in the age range 15-19 would have to die. That statistic states more than one teen would have to die per week just to equal the amount of deaths that African American teens are facing die to police firearms …show more content…
Who is killing all the black men and boys? What were the circumstances surrounding all these fatal encounters? 61% of 151 cases in which a teen was shot dead by law enforcement were recognized as African American. The reports show that in these cases, the subject was either resisting arrest or fleeing from officers. In the more recent years from 2010-2012 15 teens were shot; out of the 15 teens shot dead 14 were African American (Gabrielson, Jones, Sagara 2014). Data showing back to 1985 the Us Supreme Court ruled that to use deadly force you have to be an “officer under attack”. In 1980-1984 the term used to justify a deadly shooting, was used in 33% of incidents. From 2005-2009 the numbers have almost doubled in to 62% in deadly shooting by an officer. Numbers like the data reflect are correlated with misconduct with law enforcement and can have a strong relevance to racial …show more content…
The View points are tremendously different when asked about topics such as the shooting of Michael Brown and the use of force that is used against African Americans. The article asked questions as in do people have problems with the high militarized police departments in Ferguson that patrol the streets; 65% of African Americans see that police have gone too far but conflicting view only drew in 35% for White Americans. 32% of Whites reported that police have been doing just fine, while 35% offered no response. That statistic shows that while offering no response it can be assumed that they are uncomfortable with the results of law enforcement. White privilege can be defined as a system of unearned benefits granted to white people, providing them with an advantage based on their race, which enables them to maintain an elevated status in society (Perry 2015). White privilege can be related to the racial disparities that African Americans go through on a regular basis. In the article, it was stated that whites feel safer from police harassment and do not fear the troubles of being shot and killed by an officer. White Americans seem to turn a blind eye to crime that is done by one another and are more likely to focus on an African American